Michele Dufresne, the author of many P.D. books & award-winning children’s books, talks about her books & her upcoming LitCon sessions- An interview conducted by Dr. Sam Bommarito

A special notice of thanks to everyone for the many well wishes for my wife after her accident. She is back home and doing much better. Again, thanks for your concern. Dr. Sam

For those of you looking for professional development books that give research-based practices that will enhance your word work in guided reading and wonderful award-winning children’s books to use to implement those practices, look no further than Michele Dufresne. Here is a biography outlining her background and many accomplishments.

Michele Dufresne’s Biography

Michele Dufresne is a former literacy specialist who turned her commitment for teaching children to read into a major focus of her writing, speaking and teaching. She is the best-selling author of the Bella and Rosie series and many other fiction and nonfiction books used by teachers nationally and internationally.

Together with Jan Richardson, she has authored the best-selling Literacy Footprint Guided Reading System published by Pioneer Valley Books which has become an indispensable part of helping teachers deliver high-quality guided reading to students in K-6 classrooms. In Fall of 2019, Michele’s new book, co-authored with Jan, The Next Step Forward in Word Study and Phonics, was published by Scholastic. She is also the author of Word Solvers: Making Sense of Letters and Words, published by Heinemann books. She has recently worked on a collection of new Pioneer Valley books that provide teachers with high-quality, engaging decodable books. She has also recently worked on new high-interest fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels with myths. Her book Oki and the Polar Bear won the 2017 Moonbeam Silver award.

Michele holds a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts. She has been a classroom teacher, language arts specialist, Title 1 Director, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, and consultant in school districts across the United States.

When not writing or working with children and teachers in schools, Michele enjoys taking her dogs for walks and playing with her four grandchildren, Jaxson, Harper, Mae and Simon.  She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts (when it is warm) and St Augustine, Florida (when it is cold!)

She continues to work on improving literacy education and increasing students’ access to books that engage and support children who are learning to read. 

Here are the talking points covered in Michele’s YouTube interview. They are time-stamped in order to help you locate the topics of most interest.

These are the sessions Michele will be conducting at LitCon 2023. LitCon will be in Columbus, Ohio, again this year. Michele’s sessions are held on Sunday, Jan 29., see details below:

Here is a link to LitCon LINK.

Michele’s books

The Next Step Forward in Word Study and Phonics LINK

Pioneer Valley Storybooks LINK

Dr. Sam’s Future Blogs and appearances-

Sometime very soon, The Robb Review will be publishing a summative blog that I wrote entitled A Centrist’s Perspective on Reading Wars: Educators Need to Use Common Sense to find Common Ground. That blog summarizes the things I’ve been saying about the reading wars over the past four years.  In January, I will be presenting two sessions at LitCon. I’ll also be doing a Webinar for Pioneer Valley Books about the merits of BL, and the research supporting BL (and there really is plenty of that in spite of claims to the contrary). I have an interview with Eric Litwin in February, and I will be doing a blog entry around that. In addition to that, I’ll I also have a virtual conference in New York for an ILA group there. In March, I have two conferences in Mo, The Early Childhood conference at Lake of the Ozarks, Mo, and the Write to Learn conference in Columbia, Mo.  So, I’ll have a lot going on in the New Year.

Happy Reading and Writing.

Dr. Sam Bommarito, aka the centrist who uses ideas from all sides to inform his teaching

Copyright 2022 by Dr. Sam Bommarito. Views/interpretations expressed here are solely the author’s view and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or organization.

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P.P.S. Just in case you might want a virtual presentation or classroom visit- e-mail me at bommaritosam@yahoo.com